Eggs ---> Cygnet ---> Adult
EGGS
After the eggs are laid in the nest, the mother incubates them for 35 days until they hatch. Nests are usually lain from April to June.
CYGNET
Cygnets can take to the water right away, however the parent swans must gather food for them to eat. Cygnets usually start learning how to fly around 4 and a half months. Unfortunately many young swans die due to flying crashes and mishaps when they are still learning. The cygnet's grey fuzzy coating will turn to white feathers by the time they are 2 years old.
ADULTS
Mute Swans reach maturity at 3 years old, when they start searching for a mate. They do not start breeding until a year later, after they have found their match. Mute Swans usually have one mate their whole lives, unless one dies or becomes unsuitable. Typically these swans do not live over 10 years in the wild, but their numbers grow quickly because they have a new set of offspring every year. Parent swans are very protective of their young- if one is missing, the mother will actually go looking for it for up to a week. The cygnets are raised and nurtured by the parents until they are 1, or when the next breeding season rolls around.
After the eggs are laid in the nest, the mother incubates them for 35 days until they hatch. Nests are usually lain from April to June.
CYGNET
Cygnets can take to the water right away, however the parent swans must gather food for them to eat. Cygnets usually start learning how to fly around 4 and a half months. Unfortunately many young swans die due to flying crashes and mishaps when they are still learning. The cygnet's grey fuzzy coating will turn to white feathers by the time they are 2 years old.
ADULTS
Mute Swans reach maturity at 3 years old, when they start searching for a mate. They do not start breeding until a year later, after they have found their match. Mute Swans usually have one mate their whole lives, unless one dies or becomes unsuitable. Typically these swans do not live over 10 years in the wild, but their numbers grow quickly because they have a new set of offspring every year. Parent swans are very protective of their young- if one is missing, the mother will actually go looking for it for up to a week. The cygnets are raised and nurtured by the parents until they are 1, or when the next breeding season rolls around.
Questions and Answers
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At what age do swans start mating?
A juvenile swan normally lives as part of a flock until it is about 4 years old and deemed as being an adult. It then seeks out a mate, most commonly from the flock it's living in, and heads off with the mate to find their own mating territory. If another mating pair is nearby then problems can occur in the form of a territorial battle, the losers of which will have to move on in search of another "patch".
What time of year do swans breed?
The mute swan, which is the white swan most commonly seen in the British Isles, will normally mate at anytime from spring through to summer, with the cygnets being born anytime from May through to July.
How long do swans sit on their eggs?
After the nest has been built, which typically takes 2-3 weeks, the egg laying process begins with an egg being laid every 12-24 hours. Once all the eggs have been laid, which can take 2-3 weeks, they will all be incubated (ie sat on to start the growth process) at the same time with hatching usually 42 days (6 weeks) later.
What predators do cygnets and swans have?
New born cygnets are mainly lost to crows, herons, magpies, turtles, pike and large perch. Both cygnets and full-grown swans are also the prey of foxes and mink.
How to control them?
According to the state of Michigan, the quickest and most humane way to deal with overpopulation is to kill adult birds and as a result, decrease adult survivorship. Another way people deal with the Mute Swan is destroy their nests and eggs. Many animal rights groups disagree with these methods of control because they feel that it is animal cruelty and consequently, Mute Swan numbers continue to rise.
Another option is simply to relocate the swans elsewhere, to spread them out. We cannot relocate them because simply moving the birds to a different location would not solve the problem at all. Moving the birds somewhere else is just moving the problem somewhere else. Wherever the population would be moved to, they would begin destroying that location's ecosystem.
A juvenile swan normally lives as part of a flock until it is about 4 years old and deemed as being an adult. It then seeks out a mate, most commonly from the flock it's living in, and heads off with the mate to find their own mating territory. If another mating pair is nearby then problems can occur in the form of a territorial battle, the losers of which will have to move on in search of another "patch".
What time of year do swans breed?
The mute swan, which is the white swan most commonly seen in the British Isles, will normally mate at anytime from spring through to summer, with the cygnets being born anytime from May through to July.
How long do swans sit on their eggs?
After the nest has been built, which typically takes 2-3 weeks, the egg laying process begins with an egg being laid every 12-24 hours. Once all the eggs have been laid, which can take 2-3 weeks, they will all be incubated (ie sat on to start the growth process) at the same time with hatching usually 42 days (6 weeks) later.
What predators do cygnets and swans have?
New born cygnets are mainly lost to crows, herons, magpies, turtles, pike and large perch. Both cygnets and full-grown swans are also the prey of foxes and mink.
How to control them?
According to the state of Michigan, the quickest and most humane way to deal with overpopulation is to kill adult birds and as a result, decrease adult survivorship. Another way people deal with the Mute Swan is destroy their nests and eggs. Many animal rights groups disagree with these methods of control because they feel that it is animal cruelty and consequently, Mute Swan numbers continue to rise.
Another option is simply to relocate the swans elsewhere, to spread them out. We cannot relocate them because simply moving the birds to a different location would not solve the problem at all. Moving the birds somewhere else is just moving the problem somewhere else. Wherever the population would be moved to, they would begin destroying that location's ecosystem.